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Facebook FAQ for New Business Pages

Setting up a Facebook page for your business? Way to go! Facebook gives you a free platform to communicate with existing customers and reach out to new prospective s. Here are some of the most common questions we get when businesses are setting up for a Facebook page for the first time.

Q. I don’t use Facebook personally. Should I just create a new profile in my business name? No! There’s an important difference between a Facebook Page and a Facebook Profile. Profiles are for people. You can ‘like’ a business page, but only people have friends. Facebook prohibits using a personal profile to represent a business and they may remove a profile that doesn’t represent a real person. In order to create a page for your business you must first create a personal profile to sign in to Facebook and manage your page. (Learn more at Facebook.com.)

Q. But what if I don’t want my personal information on Facebook? You don’t have to. When you manage your business page, you will post content and interact as your business. After you’ve created your page, you’ll have the option to use Facebook using your personal profile or as your business page. You can switch between the two using the drop-down arrow at the top, right-hand corner of your screen.

Q. How do I get people to ‘like’ my page? Facebook encourages you to invite your friends to ‘like’ your Facebook page and provides an easy tool to send out invitations. But that isn’t enough. You’ll also need to invite people to ‘like’ your page by embedding your Facebook page in your website, by including it in your printed material and by paying for advertising to reach your potential customers.

Q. Why would someone want to ‘like’ my page? Great question! Why, indeed? The most important question to ask yourself before creating a Facebook page for your business is this, “What value you are going to give to people who ‘like’ your page?” The answer may be as simple as a channel for customer feedback, news about your company, special discounts or information that your customers and potential customers can use.

Q. OK, I’ve got a Facebook and a bunch of people have ‘liked’ my page. Now what? If you leave your page alone you will have one more way people can find you and you will benefit a little bit from the additional listing in search engines. But unless you use your page to share useful or interesting content, you’re missing most of the value. The real value isn’t in your page itself, but in the ability to communicate directly with people who have liked your page because when you update your page status it may appear in their news feed.

Q. I don’t have time to mess with Facebook. Why should I bother? If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business, you’re missing a free opportunity to list your business in a very important and widely used business directory. It’s like not appearing in the phone book. And by not keeping your Facebook page up to date, you’re missing a further opportunity to maintain contact with your customers and potential customers.